I'll Wait Forever and Always
by SpecialAgentZiva
Summary: "No, not my mother. Actually…" she looked at though she was disgusted by what she was saying, but pushed on anyway. "The questions were about you. Us. He kind of overheard." - tag to The Meaning Of Always


**A/N: This is the unofficial tag/sequel to The Meaning Of Always, for those of you who wanted to know what happened during Kate and Castle's movie and ice cream night. Please note, this is able to stand alone; you don't need to read The Meaning Of Always to understand. Enjoy! c: Reviewers are loved.**

**I don't own Castle.**

"Dear, it's nearly midnight! Why are you up and why on _Earth_ are you putting ice cream on the table?" A small pause, a slight gasp, and then, "_Oh!_ Either you've just broken up with someone or _she's_ coming over, isn't she?"

The elder red-head smiled in the half-light, watching as her son nodded and smiled himself, if not with his face then with his eyes. As much as she loved to watch him work, this was far more interesting. Everything he was doing was methodical, from turning on only a select few lights to setting out carefully chosen pails of ice cream on the counter, each one of them with two shining spoons. When he finally spun around to inspect the room, clapping his hands as he went, she realized it was probably time for her departure. With a smile and a light bow, she bid him "Good luck, and good night, kiddo!"

It took Rick a full ten seconds before he'd realized his mother's parting, and by then she'd already left the room, leaving his wave completely redundant. Now that everything was set up, his smile had dropped, and he was rubbing his hands together anxiously. What if she didn't like it? She _had_ looked a bit irritated at Josh earlier, but maybe she really was irked at _him_!

"Calm down," he muttered to himself. "You're a writer. You're bound to overreact."

Of course, _writing_ about a situation was far different than living it. Considering his genre, he was trained to think of worse-case scenario. In this specific instance, he suddenly hated his career and the mindset it put him in. She couldn't be _that_ mad at him, could she? What had he done? What had - ?

A knock at the door startled him out of his mental mantra. Nervously, he cast a glance around the loft. The ice cream was still alright, he told himself; the movies were still there. Nothing had changed. He counted the steps to the door as he took them, barely breathing as he did. What if she wasn't on the other side of the door?

But of course she was. His face broke into a dazzling smile as she was revealed to be standing in the entrance. However, his smile fell after a second. She looked _alright,_ but there was something off that he couldn't quite put his finger on. After working with (and nearly living with, considering the hours) her for so many years, he'd developed a keen sense of Beckett. Nothing would slip under the radar.

Still, he decided to play it nonchalant at first. "Hey, Kate! Glad you're here. Come in, but don't be too loud - there's a certain elderly redhead who's probably listening in right now."

A yell from the other room confirmed his suspicions. "Richard, I am _not_ elderly!"

"Go to bed!" he yelled bad, grin widening. After a heartbeat, he turned his attention back to Kate. "Sorry about that. Anyway, if she's up, we don't really need to be quiet."

"What about Alexis?"

Rick smiled at this as well; he loved to see Kate's protectiveness of Alexis (unless, of course, the pair were conspiring against him, which they seemed to do quite often). "She's out with a couple of friends tonight. So we basically have this place all to ourselves." He couldn't help but punctuate the sentence with a wink, which she smiled at but also smacked his arm for.

"Stop talking, and get walking," she poked him in the chest, then pushed past him. There wasn't much room to get through the doorway (he couldn't say he didn't enjoy the feeling of her pressed against him, if only for a minute), but she managed, and was proud of that, though she couldn't help the suggestive wink she threw over her shoulder. It took him a moment to recover from that look, and by that time she'd seated herself comfortably on the couch, having already chosen her poison (Tiger Tiger, of course!).

"_That_, Beckett, was not nice," he teased as he finally clambered to sit beside her. She quirked an eyebrow and gave a playful shrug. Taking this as a challenge, he pulled his spoon out of his own cherry ice cream and quickly grabbed a scoop of hers, shoving it in his mouth before she could grab it back. Looking outraged, Kate dove for _his_ food.

He was ready for her move. Over the time he'd spent with the Twelfth, he'd definitely gotten stronger and more agile, and it was paying off right about then. Deftly, he tossed the ice cream pail onto the coffee table and grabbed onto her, hooking his arms around her back. To anyone else, it might've looked like an intimate embrace.

Upon realizing just what position they'd gotten themselves into, the pair froze, staring at each other in a panic. They stayed like this until Kate slowly untangled herself from him and sat back on the couch, but not after stealing a scoop of his ice cream and making sure he watched _very_ carefully as she ate it. It took a bit for the tension to clear, but soon they were right back to normal.

Normal with one change, actually. Rick was still curious about that _off_ part of her he was sensing. She seemed a bit distracted, playing with her hair even as he started the movie. Soon, he stopped watching the film entirely and started watching her, transfixed by her simple movements. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for her to catch on and snap, "_What_?"

"Nothing," at her disapproving look, he sighed and changed his tune. "Is something wrong, Kate?"

"Nothing's wrong," she answered; to anyone who didn't know her, it would have been a perfectly believable lie. But he _did_ know her, didn't he?

"Don't lie," he pressed. She glowered at him, but he was never one to give up a fight. "It's Josh, isn't it? What happened?"

Kate's glare increased to an intensity that signalled he was right. It was a struggle to keep himself from smiling widely at the accomplishment, but he did manage, if only barely. "It's nothing, Castle."

"It's not nothing. Just talk to me. _Spill._ I'll even pause the movie." And he did just that.

Despite her glowering, she gave in (another feat he was never going to forget). "He got upset - started asking questions I wasn't sure how to answer. I gave him the honest answer and he left."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he whispered. Curiosity got the best of him before he could continue his attempts at comforting, and he less-than-tentatively asked, "What questions?" She looked away from him now, her face turning a light pinkish color. "Was it personal? Was it about your mother?"

"No, not my mother. Actually…" she looked at though she was disgusted by what she was saying, but pushed on anyway. "The questions were about you. Us. He kind of overheard."

Rick frowned. "We didn't say anything he should've taken offence to."

"Apparently we did."

"Okay, what did we say?"

"You mean, what did _you_ say?"

"Yeah, whatever." He wasn't going to let her avoid the question, she realized, and huffed in irritation. Fine, if he wanted the whole truth, she'd give him that - not that it had worked out the last time.

"_Always._"

Castle looked confused for a second before anger flashed across his face. "_That's_ what he got angry about?"

"Well, yes, and no… He wanted to know what it meant, so I told him… after we started to fight away it, anyway. He didn't like the answer. He started… insinuating things."

"Like?"

"He… he thought it meant '_I love you._'" Kate looked down at the floor, her face reddening even more. Beside her, Castle looked bemused, but didn't speak, silently encouraging her to continue. "I told him that meant everything in one word - because it is, isn't it? Always is _everything_. It tells the story of you and me," his breath hitched, and so did hers. "It tells the stories we've lived together and it speaks the words we've never said."

Slowly, Kate lifted her eyes to meet his. They stared at one each other for what seemed to be eternity before Castle cracked a small smile and whispered, "Well, that was eloquent. You should be a writer. You could steal my job."

She smiled in response. "Why not? You've already stolen _my_ job."

"And you stole my heart," he whispered, barely audible. Shock registered on his face and he clapped a hand to his mouth, equally startled by what he'd just said. They began another staring contest again, this one likely never to end. Neither wanted to acknowledge what had just been said.

With a shaking hand, Rick pressed '_play_' on the DVD remote and they resumed watching the movie, simultaneously casting glances at one another. As the minutes of silence drove into an hour, then two, they grew tired. Though he really was not sure how Kate had moved in the short time, he found himself dozing by the end credits, her head resting on his shoulder. She was fast asleep, he realized. She probably had been for a while.

He'd get cramps from sitting like this, but he'd deal with the later. Right now, she was all that mattered. Slowly, he moved an arm and draped it around her, using it to pull her closer to him. She made a small, satisfied noise and nuzzled in, causing his stomach to flutter and heart to nearly burst.

_This_ was what he wanted, he decided. _This_ - every day. It was too bad she wasn't ready for him, because he was certainly ready for her.

It was alright, he told himself. He'd wait.

_Always._


End file.
